Embattled singer R. Kelly facing additional sex abuse charges

If convicted, R. Kelly faces forfeiting over $1.5M and losing his companies.

February 15, 2020, 1:24 PM

Federal prosecutors in Illinois, filed an amended indictment against singer R. Kelly on Friday in which an additional victim and a forfeiture request of over $1.5 million to dismantle his production companies, were added to the case.

Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is facing charges in four different jurisdictions across the country where he is being accused of sexually abusing and exploiting underage girls for over the course of 25 years.

In the 13-count indictment filed by the U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division, Kelly is accused of separately victimizing five underage girls since 1997 when they were between the ages 12 to 16.

In a superseding indictment, allegations related to "Minor 2" were removed and "Minor 6" was added. According to the newly filed indictment, from 1997 to 2000 Kelly and "Minor 6"-- who was about 14 or 15-years-old when they met -- engaged in "sexual activity."

Kelly is not accused of video taping himself with "Minor 6" but allegedly had with "Minor 1, Minor 4 and Minor 5," prosecutors said.

PHOTO: File Photo: R. Kelly, center, walks inside the Criminal Court Building as he arrives for a hearing on charges of criminal sexual abuse in Chicago on June 6, 2019.
File Photo: R. Kelly, center, walks inside the Criminal Court Building as he arrives for a hearing on charges of criminal sexual abuse in Chicago on June 6, 2019.
File-Daniel Acker/Reuters

Kelly's defense attorney Steven Greenberg responded to the indictment on his Twitter account.

"We are aware of the superseding indictment. We continue to fight for him and look forward to the day he is free #notguilty #rkelly," wrote Greenberg.

Kelly's employees Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown also known as "June Brown" are still named as co-defendants.

McDavid and Brown are accused of funneling hush money through Kelly's production companies Bass Productions and RSK Enterprises, LLC. to the some of the victims and others in exchange for the sexually explicit videos of the minors.

"Kelly, McDavid, and others agreed to pay money and caused money to be paid on Kelly's behalf to victims, witnesses and others to ensure that they would not cooperate with law enforcement and would conceal and cover up evidence, including videos, relating to Kelly's sexual contact and sexual acts with minors..." according to the superseding indictment.

"The superseding indictment is just an extension of the government’s inaccurate theory about Mr. McDavid. We are looking forward to proving his innocence at trial," said Vadim Glozman in an email to ABC News on Saturday.

Request for comment from Brown's attorneys Mary Higgins Judge and Maria Teresa Gonzalez were not immediately received. They have both previously entered not guilty pleadings to the allegations.

The refiled court documents also seek -- after a conviction -- Kelly to forfeit $1,554,748 and "all rights, title, and interest in stock and all other ownership interests in Bass Productions, Ltd. and Winkler & McDavid, Ltd., in whatever form held by defendants."

Shortly after the six-hour Lifetime docuseries "Surviving R. Kelly" premiered over the course of three days in January 2019, the first of four indictments were announced.

Kelly is charged in four separate indictments filed by Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx for allegations that he allegedly sexually assaulted or abused three girls and an adult woman.

The 53-year-old faces a separate racketeering conspiracy indictment in U.S. Eastern District Court in New York which alleges he sought out underage girls attending his concerts and groomed them for later sexual abuse.

Kelly is also facing prostitution and solicitation charges in Minnesota for allegedly inviting a 17-year-old, who asked for his autograph in 2001, to his hotel room and paid her $200 to strip for him.

The Chicago-born singer was acquitted of sexual abuse charges in June 2008 stemming from allegations related to "Minor 1" where "Minor 1" and "Minor 5" were allegedly paid by Kelly to lie to the grand jury, according to the indictment.

The embattled singer has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has been remanded without bond at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since his July 2019 arrest.

ABC News' Stephanie Wash contributed to this report

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